Van's Ballroom

Please provide me some info on Van's Ballroom and we will make this site equal to the Dome Shadows page.

Jack. I am Vans oldest son. I am currently in Telecom. Have been for abt 20 years I am married for 15 years w no kids My mother Doris died in April 06 My stepmother Carmelita is still living in Ft Worth. I have 5 other brothers/sisters in TX and at least 2 more in the SE US. I would love to keep in touch. Maybe we could have a reunion sometime?

Best
Joey Bevill

Gary,
Could that club owner have been Van Bevill? He owned Vans Ballroom and
it was off of Alabama and Shepherd on a street that started with a K. I
want to say Kipling or something like that. I know that he and Marshall
were always competing with each other as far as hiring the same bands
and trying to out do each other in getting bigger crowds.
I worked at Vans Ballroom with Jesse Lankford and the Symbols, as well
as several other bands, and then I know Marshall used them too for a
period of time. The Band at Vans included Edgar Winter-Sax, Bert
Fanette-Organ, Walter Boenig-Trombone, Glen Spreen-sax, ( who later went
on to produce all of Dan Fogleberg's hit records), Buddy Wright-Bass and
Vocals, Raul Cuesta-sax, Luis Cardenas-trumpet, Randall Dolahan-guitar
and Kit Reid-trumpet and of course , me on drums.
Hope it helps,
Willie Ornelas

Willie:
The club was a country western club. Was Van's country westen/ kicker? If it
was it was Van's, if not someone else. But the owner admired and was a
friend of Marshall's, not a rival.
When did Dome Shadows get started? I need to know!
Gary

Help me out. If you have photos or information about the club, I would love to hear from you. Just email me at jackharris@att.net.

Thanks,

Gary Yantis

Dear Gary,

My name is Jimmy Alexander. I was from that era. I used to go Van's all the time. Did a lot of Whip Dancing there. I met Van in 1960 at the U.S. Navel Reserve Submarine Unit at the old Dickson Gun Plant off Clinton Drive close to my home town of Galena Park. He addressed us on a Saturday afternoon with a Group of WWII Submarine Veterans that had come down to remember and tell us about their War Patrols in WWII. If you remember, when you walked in, on the left there was a Red Wall with lot of pictures of Submarines from WWII, when I got out of active duty in 1963, I went to 2020 Kipling and introduced myself to him again. He shook my hand like I was a long lost cousin. Boy that made me proud.

Later in the mid seventies, I went to Lake Conroe and ran into Marshall Stewart who owned the 105 Marina. We talked a lot about the Dome Shadows, and when I mentioned Van being in Subs and I was in Subs and met him while I was in the Reserves, he was amazed. We would talk for hours about the Rivalry, which really there was none, and he would really cut up then. He had a small club at Marina. Saw a lot of people that used to frequent both Van's and Dome Shadows. I still have several Hurricane Glasses from Van's. Some with Red Lettering and some with Black Lettering.

Thanks for putting up this portion as a Tribute to Van.

Jimmy Alexander

Retired Longshoreman from Houston, Texas

Gary, I sent an email earlier this evening. I forgot to tell you I met my first wife there in 1968. We married in 1969 and separated in 1970. Her name was Karen Christen. Good Looking and could Dance like nobody's business. She moved from Houston after we split. The last time I saw her she was on Lizza on TV and living in California.
God Bless, Jimmy

Thanks to Sue Ann Banks, an avid customer of 1967, we have photos from Van's Ballroom, corner of Shepherd and Alabama.
Check her page. There are also photos from the Dome Shadows included.

Do NOT use this first Face Book page, use the second one at the bottom. We have a Face Book page. Please join the page and become a friend! The first Facebook will be discontinued when most of our members move over. And remember that I have a new email address: garyyantis@gmail.com

Everyone, please use our new Face Book Page with the
name Dome Shadows in it.